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Colour in Color Vinyl, white in transparent blue. Limited to 300 copies.The Magnificent are eight Hollywood rock-scene veterans who have previously hidden their secret love for powerhouse rhythm and blues, but now reveal it to the world in a savage show. The band's songbook is loaded with deep-in-the-crates soul gems from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. Playing choice selections from the likes of Solomon Burke, Rex Garvin and Big Mama Thornton, the band rearranges the songs to showcase their individual specialties, while keeping the essentials of the material in place, particularly the non-stop danceable rhythms.The Magnificent's full length release "Monolithic" includes original material alongside covers from the likes of Eddie Floyd, Janis Joplin, and the Knight Brothers. Recorded at Kitten Robot studio in Historic Filipinotown with Paul Roessler (Screamers, Twisted Roots), the tracks were mastered by soul veteran Rodney Mills at his Masterhouse lab in Atlanta. Rodney's track record includes sessions with soul godfathers such as the Meters, James Brown and George Clinton.With two frenetic front men backed by a six-man wrecking crew and two torso-twisting go-go dancers, the Magnificent are a revue to be reckoned with, a red-hot retro blast of shotgun soul.Mighty Manfred (of The Woggles, The Professor of Rock `n' Soul)Nathan Long (The Deacon of Kokomo) Kent HolmesSL "Duck" Duff (of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) Erik Szabo Todd Westover (of the BellRays)Joe Jennings Geoff Yeaton of The Streetwalkin' CheetahsMoana Santana (of Lucha va Voom) Diane Christensen (of Lucha va Voom)

The Magnificent are eight Hollywood rock-scene veterans who have previously hidden their secret love for powerhouse rhythm and blues, but now reveal it to the world in a savage show. The band's songbook is loaded with deep-in-the-crates soul gems from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. Playing choice selections from the likes of Solomon Burke, Rex Garvin and Big Mama Thornton, the band rearranges the songs to showcase their individual specialties, while keeping the essentials of the material in place, particularly the non-stop danceable rhythms.The Magnificent's full length release "Monolithic" includes original material alongside covers from the likes of Eddie Floyd, Janis Joplin, and the Knight Brothers. Recorded at Kitten Robot studio in Historic Filipinotown with Paul Roessler (Screamers, Twisted Roots), the tracks were mastered by soul veteran Rodney Mills at his Masterhouse lab in Atlanta. Rodney's track record includes sessions with soul godfathers such as the Meters, James Brown and George Clinton.With two frenetic front men backed by a six-man wrecking crew and two torso-twisting go-go dancers, the Magnificent are a revue to be reckoned with, a red-hot retro blast of shotgun soul.Mighty Manfred (of The Woggles, The Professor of Rock `n' Soul)Nathan Long (The Deacon of Kokomo) Kent HolmesSL "Duck" Duff (of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) Erik Szabo Todd Westover (of the BellRays)Joe Jennings Geoff Yeaton of The Streetwalkin' CheetahsMoana Santana (of Lucha va Voom) Diane Christensen (of Lucha va Voom)

*black vinyl*LHD are a three-piece band from Sisak, formed of Lada on bass, Dinko on guitar and Hrvoje on drums (members of ex-The BambiMolesters and The Strange). Taking influence from '60 soul, garage, psychedelic rock, exotica & surf, this innovative trio brings forth cool and inspiring new sound. In 2019 they released a double A-sided 7" single Boiling Water, Dreamy Girl / This Caramel Should Cover the Earth, and in 2020 another 7" single titled Green Voodoo / Blue Umbrella.Their new album, O_ the Grid, released on May 21st 2022 by Dirty Old Label / Red Drum follows the creative path of the 7'' singles and features 10 songs that expand across genres. It was recorded at Sunday Studios, tastefully produced by Sven Pavlovic, and mastered at Green Hill Studio. The cover was beautifully done by Darko Kujundzic and the atmospheric band photos were taken by Kresimir Nilic. Two songs feature guest appearances by Arimati Jutila of the cult Finnish garage band The Flaming Sideburns and Nacho Rompatodo of the Argentinian surf attraction Los Freneticos.The warm Magnatone tube amp sound and the underlying tight rhythm section create a fluid atmosphere that opposes the everyday deafening verbal noise. The trio's music provides listeners with a perfect soundtrack for their own real or virtual travel, creating themes to imaginary cinematic dreamworlds.

Enablers (no the) first made music together in San Francisco in 2002. Their individual histories join the dots through the major musical events in America of the '80s and '90s: the fertile Texas underground, Homestead Records, New York noise, Bay Area metal, the post- Nevermind goldrush and everything that got left in its wake. As with all the best bands, they formed by accident. Author and poet Pete Simonelli convinced guitarists (and fellow bar-dwellers) Joe Goldring (Swans) and Kevin Thomson (Nice Strong Arm) to provide musical backing for a few poems. The addition of drummer Yuma Joe Byrnes (of 4AD's Tarnation) sparked Enablers into life, away from the cerebral idea of a 'book project' and into the infinite possibilities of a living, breathing band. We agreed that (Enablers) were not going to sound like much of what had already come before in the vein of 'spoken word' recordings: a voice in front of a droning, basically static piece of music. We wanted solid musical compositions with dynamic and tense arrangements."—Pete They've been doing that very thing, collectively, from day one. Simonelli punctuates the thrilling out-rock of the musicians as if directing the chaos with each jabbed finger or kick of a boot, rhythms explode on a single syllable or are seemingly sucked back into their shell by a breath in the text. Goldring and Thomson constantly reinvent the wheel, using the limitations of guitar to their advantage, always surprising listeners with new possibilities. It is primal, powerful, and absolutely hardcore. In the tradition of the punk and underground era they grew up in, Enablers have always treated each new recording as a bookmark in time used to generate resources to tour. Some Gift is their seventh LP and the first on Wrong Speed Records. It represents a summation of the history of the band. It recalls the incendiary power of the early records whilst being delivered with a loose, human feel that can only have been cultivated through the time and experiences they share together. These seemingly gradual changes in sound from album to album reveal themselves as revelations once fully experienced and understood as a whole. It sounds like this music comes effortlessly to the players, yet it leaves the listener punch drunk, exhausted and elated.

“The plan was to make twenty 90-second tracks designed as TV themes,” says Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat, of the initial thought behind his new instrumental album as Nyx Nótt “But it wasn't a satisfying listen, it was too gimmicky and silly.”

So instead, Moffat decided to stretch the idea out, plunge deeper, and expand the music into full tracks, “making some of them quite long and dramatic, with the odd swift turn here and there.” In fleshing these tracks out into more fully realised songs he began sourcing samples from professional TV and film music libraries. “The focus then turned to making a proper album out of these modern library sounds,” he says. “I decided to stick with the Themes From title and named the tracks after the sorts of shows they made me think of when I listened back.”

The result is a record that explores genre themes such as: ‘Thriller, ‘Porno’, ‘Caper’ and‘Swashbuckler’, and acts as an audio equivalent of channel hopping through a unique TV station programmed by Moffat. “I still wasn't sure about all this until I did the album cover, which brought it all together,” he says, of the artwork that places an old smashed TV unit front and centre with a woman perched on top. “It has echoes of old TV compilations but is pretty cheeky and slightly sexy in that old 70s compilation style. I wanted this one to look a bit more fun than the last one, as well as hopefully sound a bit more fun too.”

Aside from being a fun experience, it is also a stirring and immersive listen, one that allows the listener to imagine their own accompanying visual scenarios to each musical theme. The opening ‘Docudrama’ marries a gently creeping beat with strings that glide from tense to sweeping, while ‘Porno’ is all seedy smoky jazz that feels plucked right out of Travis Bickle’s late night trips to porn cinemas in Taxi Driver.

Touches of jazz pop up in other places too, on ‘Hardboiled’ this merges with subtle pulses and gargles of electronics that build to a rousing crescendo of horns and bleeps, and on ‘Caper’ there’s a vivacious full jazz band skip to the lively swinging rhythms. “There's a few more jazzy elements here,” Moffat says. “Although I'm not quite sure where that came from. Although, like everyone else, I've had plenty of time to be introspective recently, so I decided the next Nyx Nótt album should be more upbeat and encourage some occasional foot-tapping.”

However, what becomes apparent, the longer you spend in the world of Themes From, is how singular and unique the tone of each composition is. “Each track has its own individual feel,” says Moffat. “The idea was to sound like a different composer and band throughout.” It’s a stylistic leap that continues Nyx Nótt’s trajectory as one that shares no direct link to Moffat’s other projects. “I approach them in completely different ways and with a different purpose in mind,” says Moffat. “I don't think Nyx has ever heard of Arab Strap, and certainly doesn't own any of their albums.” It’s also a notable shift from the debut album under this moniker, and suitably given the theme, Moffat has created a visual comparison between these two sonic worlds. “If the first Nyx Nótt album was like looking out on dark prairies before dawn, this is more like a walk through a neon Soho after a few cocktails.”

Esther, the latest effort from Brooklyn duo Welcome Wagon is as much about homecoming as it is about making peace with-and a home in-uncertainty. The project had its beginnings in the summer of 2017, when the family took a two-month sabbatical to California. In reflecting upon that time, Pastor Vito Aiuto says "It felt like we had been changed, and so to go home was going to be alright." Shortly after returning to Brooklyn, he found himself holding his guitar and allowing his fingers to play a few notes that just felt_right. Then the pandemic hit, and Vito's strumming, lyrics, and thoughts became the soundtrack of the family's lockdown lives. Though Monique had given up painting a decade prior, she felt an urge to go home as well, to reconnect not just with an artistic identity but with her midwestern family. She began using pieces from a collection of her late grandmother Esther's treasures to create large-scale collages, beautiful, evocative, and almost haunting in their pastiche of the past.Esther was born out of this wellspring of creativity and homecoming, exploring the profound knowing and equally profound mystery in both family and faith. In Esther, the questioning is the destination, and it is one where peace can be found and home-and art-can be made. There's a salve there. There is music. There are moments of grace, large and small. Welcome.

Revered Sydney songwriter Laura Jean returns with new album Amateurs, her first record since the much-celebrated Devotion in 2018. Amateurs is a stunning, string-laden album, set at a mystical midway point between the deep synth-pop of Devotion and the folkier sounds of Laura's earlier work. The album features backing vocals from Aldous Harding and Marlon Williams on three songs (Teenager Again, Amateurs and Folk Festival). Laura worked with producer Tim Bruniges around Sydney's long 2020-2021 lockdowns. Erkki Veltheim (Gurrumul, Cat Power) arranged gorgeous strings for the album, which were recorded in Melbourne by Devotion producer John Lee. Amateurs is an album about anti-art and anti-intellectual culture in Australia (but applies equally to other parts of the world). It sees Laura questioning her role as a songwriter and examining the reality of her choices to prioritise art over other parts of her life. It is also a warmhearted, humorous and sonically breathtaking album. "Amateurs means to do something for love, not money, and somehow it's become a dirty word, shorthand for a failure," says Laura. "These songs arise from my acceptance that I will always be an `amateur'." 2018 album Devotion had superlative reviews from Pitchfork, Gorilla Vs Bear and elsewhere, and made it into end of year lists for Spin, Idolator, Apple Music and more. Laura also acquired some high-profile fans such as Lorde and actor Brie Larson. She did two UK/Europe tours in 2018-19 with Courtney Barnett and Aldous Harding. Laura has twice been shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize and has recorded with Jenny Hval as well as Aussie icons Paul Kelly, The Drones, and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. "Maybe the sharpest communication of the spooky, all-consuming nature of feminine love" - Lorde

Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats) had been friends and mutual admirers of each other's musical projects for years, though with Faruolo residing in the UK and Blackwell residing in Texas, their interactions were limited. Yet as was so often the case for many of us during the shelter-in-place stretches of 2020, geographic proximity wound up being a non-issue as our socializations became almost exclusively online endeavors. In this era of isolation and uncertainty, Faruolo and Blackwell invented their own private escape to Latin rhythms, colorful vistas, and smoky revelries under the project name of Abraxas. Combining their shared love of Wendy Renee, Los Destellos, doo-wop and R&B, they crafted their debut album Monte Carlo by bouncing ideas across the Atlantic. "Planet Abraxas is a world filled with jungles, mist-covered rivers, panthers lurking in the night, desolate shopping malls, Neolithic citadels and sand-worn walls," Blackwell says of the muse behind Monte Carlo. "The nights are usually dense with fog and the air is filled with the sounds of cicadas and faraway drumming." This visual manifestation of their sound stands in stark contrast to the environment in which the songs were written. "I remember the feeling I got the first time Danny added vocals to one of my tracks," Faruolo recalls. "I was sitting on my sofa in rainy Manchester in the middle of winter. I pressed play and the song just made my heart jump. It instantly felt special and, more importantly, it felt like a perfect portrait of both of us." Uruguayan-born Faruolo grew up with the tropical beats of cumbia and the psychedelic flavor of classic chicha artists, and it became her mission to infuse those sunny influences in her work as a UK musician. Blackwell's work under the Night Beats handle involves the fusion of outlaw soul and R&B with a resourceful DIY spirit. Despite the apparent contrast in their styles, the two musicians bonded over their reverence for Selena and Sade, exemplars of the humid pulse and sultry spirit of their respective approaches. As Abraxas, their distinctive musical perspectives created a sound that encompassed the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, the scrappy songwriting of Cleaners From Venus, and the trippy production of Lee "Scratch" Perry, though the duo is quick to assert that they were finding their own distinctive voices rather than adhering to pre-existing stylistic codes and constraints. And indeed, Monte Carlo feels rooted in tradition but blossoms into its own unique timbres and vibrations. Monte Carlo opens with "Sunrise State (of Mind)," where a hypnotic cumbia beat serves as the bedrock for cosmic guitar leads, hazy choral melodies, and Blackwell's seductive vocals. From there, the album continues its steady Latin pulse on "Mañana," a perfect soundtrack to feverish nights in dancehalls, sipping on caipirinhas and sharing cigarettes with strangers on the dancefloor. Across its twelve tracks, Monte Carlo unfurls a myriad of exotic influences, from the Eastern melodies and guitar trills on "Sultan," through the dub-infected stomp and scorching fuzz of "La Estampida," and on to the Anatolian psych-funk of album closer "Göbekli Tepe."

Over the past two decades, Dez Mona never ceased to surprise audiences. Less than a year after “Lucy”, a 'worldly oratorio' in collaboration with the Antwerp Baroque Orchestration X, singer Gregory Frateur and his companions now knock on the door with the cosmopolitan “Loose Ends”. Dez Mona focuses more than ever on the rhythm and groove.

Experimental post-punk outfit Girls IN Synthesis are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020's incendiary debut, 'Now Here's An Echo From Your Future'. Entitled 'The Rest Is Distraction' and available this coming October 14th via the band's own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, Girls IN Synthesis are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio's double a-sided debut single 'The Mound'/'Disappear' came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, 'The Rest Is Distraction' is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band's debut, 'The Rest Is Distraction' takes its cues from 'Join Hands' era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass' 'Christ The Album', among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emerge from the UK DIY underground in recent years. Listeners will find 'The Rest Is Distraction' a challenging, yet ultimately cathartic listen. Prepare yourselves for a sonic cleansing, Girls In Synthesis style.

Experimental post-punk outfit GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are set to release the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2020's incendiary debut, 'Now Here's An Echo From Your Future'. Entitled 'The Rest Is Distraction' and available this coming October 14th via the band's own label Own It/Cargo Records, its mix of fractured guitar, crushing drums and bass, intense vocals and lyrical content - create as challenging a record as you will hear this year. Formed in 2016, GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS are John Linger (bass / vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar / keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums). The trio's double a-sided debut single 'The Mound'/'Disappear' came out in the early part of 2017, and since then they have established themselves as the most forward thinking, viscerally challenging band around with unmissable live shows that continue to excite and astound in equal measure. Recorded last year amidst the uncertainty of continuous lockdowns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, 'The Rest Is Distraction' is far darker in content than its predecessor. Mainly exploring internal and mental struggles as opposed to external current affairs, it focuses on the claustrophobia of emotional anguish and continues to bravely delve into previously un-ventured topics. Featuring frequent collaborators funkcutter and Stanley Bad on horns and violin, respectively, two songs also see Eleni Poulou, ex-The Fall, on keyboards. The album was mixed by long-term collaborator Max Walker and features stunning landscape photography by Bea Dewhurst. The album was mastered in France by Ayumu Matsuo. Sonically atramentous and less one dimensional than the band's debut, 'The Rest Is Distraction' takes its cues from 'Join Hands' era Siouxsie & The Banshees, Brainiac and Crass' 'Christ The Album', among others. From the first crackle of electricity on the opening track, to the heart wrenching taped voice-recording on the final outro, this LP triumphantly retains every ounce of intensity and vitality that makes Girls In Synthesis the most captivating band to emer...

LP on 180g white vinyl, standard sleeve, printed inner sleeve. 8 minimal is maximal salvos in 23 minutes that coalesce into a stun-blast soundtrack for today's shattered society. New York City's artistic skyline may have changed immeasurably since the last century, yet the minimalist post-punk/synth-pop duo vividly gouge into the city's immortal outsider spirit and underground cultural tropes, set against a pulsating backdrop of modern apocalypse. Laced with evocatively concise and lacerating lyrics delivered detached and deadpan, 'Closure's spine-chilling onslaught of towering guitar shrapnel, ethereal metallic synth melodies and cold electronic turbulence comes infused with shades of New Order and Jesus And Mary Chain; the kind of modern disco and post-punk grooves that pillaged New York clubs in the 80s. Inevitably, the penetrating spirit of New York electronic trailblazers Suicide haunts the new record with its subterranean gravitational pull, having previously manifested physically when the two-piece befriended the late Alan Vega - leading to collaborations, support spots and Artaud now co-curating the 'Vega Vault' of unreleased material and co-producing and mixing the 2021 lost 'Mutator' LP.

Following the highly acclaimed album Dream Violence (2021) and the recent LP re-issue of his modern underground classic Gravity/ Repulsion, Michael Beach has announced a new self-titled 12-inch EP, to be released via Goner and Poison City Records. Recorded during the winter of 2021, the new record is made up of both 8-track tape and full studio recordings, interspersed with experimental, moody interludes, and features Beach’s Australian bandmates Bonnie Mercer (guitar), Peter Warden (drums) and Carla Oliver (bass) throughout. The EP’s stunning closer “Only A Memory” is a collaboration with Lloyd Swanton of renowned Australian minimalist trio The Necks, recorded in NSW’s Blue Mountains. “Out In A Burning Alley,” the EP’s lead single, combines Beach’s soulful abstracted lyrics over two minutes and fifty eight seconds of blazing garage-rock, where the sounds of the Melbourne and Oakland / Bay Area underground collide. In support of the upcoming EP and recent Dream Violence album, Beach will be returning to tour the US in September/ October, headlining dates on the East and West coast and performing at the iconic Gonerfest in Memphis, TN. The touring outfit will also feature Beach’s long time collaborator Utrillo Kushner (Comets On Fire / Personal and The Pizzas) on drums.

Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden embody the limitless curiosity and fearless innovation of the Swedish and Berlin new music scenes they inhabit. Arkbro is a composer and musician whose work has been presented around the globe at prestigious institutions such as the Barbican in London, GRM in Paris and the Kölner Philharmonie in Köln, and has studied under legendary minimalists such as La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi. Graden is one of Sweden"s most sought-after pianists, moving freely between classical music and the European contemporary jazz scene. Currently living in Amman Jordan, he is an active member of the Jordanian experimental pop scene. I get along without you very well is a daring statement from two of the most progressive voices in contemporary music. In allowing themselves to be at their most vulnerable - with each other, their collaborators and with listeners - they have created some of their most powerful work to date. Following their collaboration on the acclaimed For Organ and Brass released on Subtext, new album I get along without you very well expands on the duo"s intoxicating exploration of meditative, spiritual sonics in unexpected ways. It is a beautiful meeting of two friends and inventive musical minds, resulting in the most affecting and surprising of pop albums. From its opening notes, I get along without you very well delights in subtle tensions and contradictions. While no song lasts more than a few minutes, the album feels distinctly unhurried, its atmospheric textures and sparse rhythms seemingly distorting the flow of time. The duo"s arrangements conceal an incredible amount of compositional detail paired with a distinctive sonic pallet, of brass, woodwinds, upright bass and synthesizer. Timbres in a similar register create an incredible depth of sound while paradoxically giving the impression of sparseness with individual instruments blending with one another seamlessly. Arkbro"s ephemeral vocals, entirely absent from her solo works, provide a perfect counterpoint to the album"s rumbling low-end, magnifying the intimacy and vulnerability of the music. On the opening track, described by Arkbro as "the most naked song on the record", the composer"s breathy vocals curl in ribbons around murky brass, as delicate blue vapors evaporate, underpinned by featherlight percussion

Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden embody the limitless curiosity and fearless innovation of the Swedish and Berlin new music scenes they inhabit. Arkbro is a composer and musician whose work has been presented around the globe at prestigious institutions such as the Barbican in London, GRM in Paris and the Kölner Philharmonie in Köln, and has studied under legendary minimalists such as La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi. Graden is one of Sweden"s most sought-after pianists, moving freely between classical music and the European contemporary jazz scene. Currently living in Amman Jordan, he is an active member of the Jordanian experimental pop scene. I get along without you very well is a daring statement from two of the most progressive voices in contemporary music. In allowing themselves to be at their most vulnerable - with each other, their collaborators and with listeners - they have created some of their most powerful work to date. Following their collaboration on the acclaimed For Organ and Brass released on Subtext, new album I get along without you very well expands on the duo"s intoxicating exploration of meditative, spiritual sonics in unexpected ways. It is a beautiful meeting of two friends and inventive musical minds, resulting in the most affecting and surprising of pop albums. From its opening notes, I get along without you very well delights in subtle tensions and contradictions. While no song lasts more than a few minutes, the album feels distinctly unhurried, its atmospheric textures and sparse rhythms seemingly distorting the flow of time. The duo"s arrangements conceal an incredible amount of compositional detail paired with a distinctive sonic pallet, of brass, woodwinds, upright bass and synthesizer. Timbres in a similar register create an incredible depth of sound while paradoxically giving the impression of sparseness with individual instruments blending with one another seamlessly. Arkbro"s ephemeral vocals, entirely absent from her solo works, provide a perfect counterpoint to the album"s rumbling low-end, magnifying the intimacy and vulnerability of the music. On the opening track, described by Arkbro as "the most naked song on the record", the composer"s breathy vocals curl in ribbons around murky brass, as delicate blue vapors evaporate, underpinned by featherlight percussion

Breaking a decade of omertà, The Mars Volta reawaken from their lengthy hiatus with an eponymous album that radically reshapes their paradigm.



Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, The Mars Volta rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands At The Drive-In in 2001. On a mission to “honour our roots and honour our dead”, The Mars Volta made music that fused the Latin sounds Rodríguez-López was raised on with the punk and underground noise he and Bixler-Zavala had immersed themselves in for years, and the futuristic visions they were tapping into. The albums that followed were one-of-a-kind masterpieces, their songs of breath-taking complexity also possessing powerful emotional immediacy.



After the group fell silent, a legion of devotees (including Kanye West) kept up an insistent drum-beat for their return. The new album shakes loose some of The Mars Volta’s long-standing shibboleths, with only two tracks lasting longer than four minutes, and the dizzying, abrasive prog stylings of earlier albums absent. Instead, The Mars Volta pulses with subtle brilliance, Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent songcraft.



This is The Mars Volta at their most mature, most concise, most focused. Their sound and fury channelled to greatest effect, The Mars Volta finds Rodríguez-López’s subterranean pop melodies driving Bixler-Zavala’s dark sci-fi tales of the occult and malevolent governments. Distilling all the passion, poetry and power at their fingertips, „The Mars Volta“ is the most accessible music the group has ever recorded.

Classic Double Black Vinyl, DL card. The Nightingales' last original full-length for two decades stands as the final masterpiece postpunk album released before the C86 era. Back on vinyl for the first time in over 3 decades, the reissue is updated to include the whole of the 1985's 7" single "It's A Cracker" and "What A Carry On" 12" EP, plus a clutch of rare tracks never before released on vinyl and a bit of history from Robert Lloyd. Despondently anti-Thatcher and with an air of hopelessness, In The Good Old Country Way has the sense that time was allowed for experimentation and reflection during its creation. Expectations were high as The Nightingales released their sole Vindaloo album and possibly the most underrated album of the postpunk era. The opening number is heavy on the hoedown, not unlike records their pals The Mekons would release around the same time - a rootsy underlayment to songs of wit, energy and observation, adaptable both to lengthy groove-based observation and high-octane rants alike. Maria Smith's violin weaves in and out of songs, while the rhythm section of Pete Jenner (bass) and Ron Collins (drums) hold what might have been a disjointed mess, but it's multi-instrumentalist / arranger Pete Byrchmore who shares the spotlight with Lloyd. "It's A Cracker" stuns, not stylistically dissimilar to their recent records for the first ninety seconds, though featuring a bridge hinting at new developments in their sound which could be heard on the next Nightingales release, 'What A Carry On'. A sublime record, it features the powerful title track in two version, one of the band's best songs, "Comfort And Joy", and the tenderly alienating "First My Job". "Lloyd's cracked it. A fucking good album." Mark E. Smith, The Fall.

Under Cover features extraordinary interpretations of songs by some of June’s favorite artists including previously unreleased versions of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home,” Gillian Welch’s “Look At Miss Ohio,” and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Into My Arms.” The EP also includes two tracks that appeared on June’s (digital only) The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers Deluxe Edition: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon.” Bob Dylan’s transcendent “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” (previously available as an Amazon Original exclusive) and June’s captivating reading of Mazzy Star’s "Fade Into You," released last month, rounds out the set.



As one of American music’s most admired sonic experimentalists, June approaches these carefully chosen tracks with a sense of both reverence and freedom. It’s a one-of-kind balance between modern and traditional influences that makes her a special artistic force and these timeless songs her own.



Valerie June’s most recent full-length album, 2021’s acclaimed The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, was one of the year’s most celebrated releases. Produced by June and Jack Splash, the album is “a psychedelic tour de force” that is “powerfully, elegantly subversive” (UNCUT) and “a stunning song cycle of redemption and reclamation” (Rolling Stone). June’s spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder ground the record, and “her every quiver bespeaks emotional honesty” (New Yorker).



The follow-up to her 2013 breakthrough, Pushin’ Against A Stone, and the widely adored The Order of Time — a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists — The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers is a landmark work for the Memphis-born, Brooklyn-based auteur. The album’s “Call Me A Fool,” featuring Stax legend Carla Thomas, was nominated for Best American Roots Song at this year’s GRAMMY Awards, the first nomination of June’s illustrious career.

Under Cover features extraordinary interpretations of songs by some of June’s favorite artists including previously unreleased versions of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home,” Gillian Welch’s “Look At Miss Ohio,” and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Into My Arms.” The EP also includes two tracks that appeared on June’s (digital only) The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers Deluxe Edition: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon.” Bob Dylan’s transcendent “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” (previously available as an Amazon Original exclusive) and June’s captivating reading of Mazzy Star’s "Fade Into You," released last month, rounds out the set.



As one of American music’s most admired sonic experimentalists, June approaches these carefully chosen tracks with a sense of both reverence and freedom. It’s a one-of-kind balance between modern and traditional influences that makes her a special artistic force and these timeless songs her own.



Valerie June’s most recent full-length album, 2021’s acclaimed The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, was one of the year’s most celebrated releases. Produced by June and Jack Splash, the album is “a psychedelic tour de force” that is “powerfully, elegantly subversive” (UNCUT) and “a stunning song cycle of redemption and reclamation” (Rolling Stone). June’s spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder ground the record, and “her every quiver bespeaks emotional honesty” (New Yorker).



The follow-up to her 2013 breakthrough, Pushin’ Against A Stone, and the widely adored The Order of Time — a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists — The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers is a landmark work for the Memphis-born, Brooklyn-based auteur. The album’s “Call Me A Fool,” featuring Stax legend Carla Thomas, was nominated for Best American Roots Song at this year’s GRAMMY Awards, the first nomination of June’s illustrious career.

For the last decade, Valley of the Sun have lit up stages across Europe and North America, dropped three albums of high-octane rock ’n roll and won over thousands of loyal fanatics along the way. Now, they have their sights set on world domination with their most stunning album to date, The Chariot, coming summer 2022. A dynamic flurry of top-volume riffage, soaring melodies and furious rhythms served up Cincinnati-style with a cold beer on the side. Check out the record today and get on board, and you’ll see why everything’s more dazzling in the Valley of the Sun... “Valley of the Sun sound like one of those bands best experienced in a dive bar with sweat dripping off the walls – a perfect setting for the short, sharp shock of ‘The Hunt’, the QOTSA-esque jaunt of ‘Land of Fools’, where Ryan Ferrier’s huge vocals sound like Steven Tyler experiencing an exorcism.” - Metal Hammer. “There’s no question that Valley of the Sun are placing themselves at the forefront of the new generation of American heavy rock.” – THE Obelisk.

Swedish Hard Rock Kings H.E.A.T return with their second energetic single 'Back To The Rhythm'. Taken from their upcoming album 'Force Majeure', it is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers. 'Force Majeure' arrives worldwide on August 5th 2022.

Sonically and visually, the band take it up a notch. For the music videos as well as the artwork, a vibrant fictional world - H.E.A.T City - has been built for this release, creating an exciting surrounding for the band’s energetic album.

The band is back with original singer Kenny Leckremo on lead, taking everyone on a speedy and energetic ride through H.E.A.T city. For most people, the last two years have probably been marked by exactly what has given H.E.A.T’s album its name – a "force majeure". But, H.E.A.T don't let such forces stop them, quite the opposite.

A reissue of The Vaselines' debut full-length Dum-Dum, originally released in 1989. Available here on Limited Edition of 1,000 Clear Colored 180 Gram LP.The Vaselines formed in 1986, originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, later adding James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively. They released two EPs; Son Of A Gun, released in 1987, and Dying For It, released in 1988, which featured the songs "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" both of which Nirvana would later cover. In 1989 they released their first album, Dum-Dum on 53rd and 3rd Records. The band broke up shortly after its release. They briefly reformed in 1990 to open for Nirvana when they played in Edinburgh. Kelly went on to found the band Captain America, supporting Nirvana on their 1991 UK Nevermind tour, later signing to Creation offshoot August Records in the UK -- A&R'd by David Barker of Glass Records. Dying For It was reissued on his Seminal Twang label at the time of the Nirvana tour and Atlantic for the US, they renamed themselves Eugenius after anticipated legal threats from Marvel Comics. Following solo performances Kelly released the album Man Alive in 2004. McKee founded the band Suckle and released her first solo album, Sunny Moon, in 2006. Though they were not widely known during their short career, apart from fans of the international pop underground, their association with Nirvana brought huge exposure to the band. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain once described Kelly and McKee as his "favorite songwriters in the whole world". With their songs "Son Of A Gun" and "Molly's Lips" were covered on Nirvana's album Incesticide (1992) and "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for A Sunbeam" was covered on on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York (1994) giving the band a new audience. At the 1991 Reading Festival, Kelly joined Nirvana on stage for a performance of "Molly's Lips". The Vaselines reformed (minus the old rhythm section) in 2008 and have released two further al...

Joys Union Group is a new Texas group that aims to blur the lines between new age, jazz and "New Weird America"-esque psychedelia and Trouble In Mind is honored to unveil "Boredom Euphoria", their stunning debut album. The group is led by Neil Lord (Future Museums) alongside Michael C. Sharp (Uniform, Sungod, Impalers), Kristine Reaume (Sungod) and Dailey Toliver (Molly Burch). The album was mixed by Ben Greenberg & mastered by Andrew Weathers.While the album still skirts the boundaries of the ambient & kosmiche zones Lord is known for is his solo Future Museums project, Joys Union Group fully feels like an organic, living entity, rather than a sequence of electronic signals; heady, deep, jammy & blissful. Leading off with the serene "Cloud Paint", the album arrives like a spring sunrise, as shafts of light peek through the treeline, leading into the title track "Boredom Euphoria", with its percussive swing driving under guitar & key splashes & embellished by a shimmering, cascading flute melody. "Shimmering Surface" & "Portrero" saunter forward next, both exuding the full weight of the Texas sun over their acoustic melancholy, feeling like an addendum to Bruce Langhorne's mythic "Hired Hand" soundtrack. "Fragile Chrysalis" kicks off side two, with its drums swells & horn punctuations sounding like Electric Miles jamming with Bardo Pond. "Laughter In the Sky" is a mellower affair, with the flute returning to season the song's lilting melody. "Fig" has echoes of the more studious outings from the post-rock era, while closer "Wiser" ambles home pleasantly atop a buzzing electric guitar lick that feels like the natural throughline from Fripp's guitar work with Eno.

A reawakening for the Swedish visionaries, Sincere solidifies their impressive trajectory in a fuzzed out haze of dark and arresting shoegaze pop. An expansive trip through noisier, bittersweet pop realms that recalls My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Deerhunter.Underpinning everything there's a continuing sense of drama throughout; richly textured crescendos, chiming guitars and delicate melodies are guided by Caroline Landahl's tender yet sharpened vocals. Sincere is joyously effervescent, but with a dark underbelly where fury manifests in a swirl of entrancing and propulsive percussion.A gorgeous and dazzling piece of aching romanticism, destined to feature on a thousand mixtapes.Recorded last year in Malmö, Hater welcomed two new band members and those early day sparks saw them quickly turning demos into fully-formed new songs that appear on the record. Sincere was produced by long-time collaborator Joakim Lindberg and was mixed and mastered by John Cornfield, whose credits include Ride, The Stone Roses and Robert Plant."One of the best bands in the world" Gorilla vs Bear"Your next Scandinavian indie pop obsession." Flood"Stunning" StereogumBlack Vinyl, DL card. CD Capacity wallet

The newest longplayer from Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal staple Cedric Noel lands with a stunning sense of surety and self. Hang Time stands as a high water mark for a songwriter who's spent the past decade quietly expanding the borders of his music. Longtime fans will recognize the fluid elements of the album's open-ended rock formations: reflective strumming, soaring choruses, searing guitar lines, subtle bass grooves; all occasionally dissolving into pools of pure ambience. New listeners will find surprises throughout: threads of folk pop, ambient and sound collage fasten the foundations of this expressive whole. However, what's most striking on Hang Time is Noel's newfound sense of voice, both literal and metaphorical. Written primarily in 2017-18 during an intense period of self-reflection, this collection of songs finds Noel wrestling profoundly with his sense of identity, self and place. Born in Niger, adopted by Canadian and Mozambican/Belgian parents, he spent his youth moving around the globe with his adoptive, multi-racial family, eventually landing in Fredericton, Canada for university. While studying, Noel embedded himself in a predominantly white indie rock community that left him feeling, as a Black man, both seen and unseen in complicated ways; both welcome and not. This tension would follow Noel through a move to Montreal in 2016 wherein he found himself again moving within predominantly white music communities. This (dis)placement would encourage Noel to find respite in Ottawa, holed up temporarily in a family home, studying the pieces of himself and putting them to place in music. Listening to Hang Time, one can feel the tensions of this process being held and released, as if being allowed to breathe for the first time: forms open and close, surfaces are seen through, feelings go supernova. The album's material was captured faithfully at The Pines, a beloved downtown Montreal studio whose doors shuttered shortly after amidst the strain of the pandemic. Noel worked closely and patiently with friend and engineer Steve Newton, ensuring the songs had the time and space needed to come fully to fruition. Hang Time features subtle rhythm work from drummer Liam O'Neill (suuns) and guest spots from Brigitte Naggar (Common Holly), Ella Williams (Squirrel Flower) and Tim Crabtree (Paper Beat Scissors) among others.

Two years after the release of their last album Somewhere Else, BIG Mountain County releases a new EP. That's Klaus, the result of an evolution in sound and style that the band has carried out during the long months of forced absence from the scene. Unlike the past, the artistic production was in fact entirely in the hands of BIG Mountain County, which, never as this time, feel perfectly represented their soundscape in the tracks engraved on vinyl, available here from April 22. To open the dances there is (literally) What?, already released digitally last July. It is a song that, despite its attitude rooted in punk, is about artifice, about pushing the sounds to reach new landscapes. The super groovy bass lines, the crunchy drums, the connection between the synths and the vocals, raw, edgy but also refined and elaborate, push the band's style beyond the garage-psych overtones to which they have been associated. The lyrics are about a personal relationship, centered around someone very close who can turn into an unbearable person, leading us to a definitive reaction. But the song is also a vehicle for emotional release, so yell "What?" it becomes an indomitable will to move forward, to go through these absurd times that we are all living, a cry of anger against any kind of impediment. For What? was shot a video, released last July, signed by Paolo Sfirri. It follows the title-track THE Klaus Crossing, the unique track not yet unveiled. It is the track closest to the old production of BIG Mountain County, who speak of it as follows: “In such a "chaotic and fragile" period we need to dream even more strongly. On a heartbeat marked by the arpeggiator, a weave of guitars is being created to send the present to an other side, where we are stripped of material consistency and imagination takes the power. These days are too grey, some relationships are too worn out, there are no expectations, only the prospect of sinking. So we hurry: energies fade, time runs fast, but spring is just around the corner. And to be born it is necessary to die.” Side A is closed by Where ARE YOU?, released as a single in January. Here the contamination of psych sounds, exquisitely analog, with rhythmic and melodic lines with a more synthetic flavor is evident. Over a skeleton of a reiterated rhythm that is not afraid to refer explicitly to the krautrock of Can, we hear guitars and synthetic riffs that remain around Berlin, but look towards California, remembering The Brian Jonestown Massacre. In the middle of this combination, a synthetic arpeggio breaks in, to soon gets stuck in the pressing rhythm, and finally get confused in the closing explosion, BIG Mountain County's trademark. The band's "flirt" with Berlin and California doesn't end with the A-side. Side B, in fact, features the two remixes of Where ARE YOU?, both already released digitally last March. The first one is signed by AL Lover, , cult name of the international psych scene, known for his unique approach to psychedelic and experimental electronic music. Already author of remixes for bands such as Thee Oh Sees and Night Beats, he has collaborated with several labels (Stolen Body Records, The Reverberation Appreciation Society, Fuzz Club Records, Hoga Nord Rekords, Pnkslm Records and Crash Symbols) and artists such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre, White Fence, Goat and Cairo Liberation Front. He has also been the official DJ for festivals such as Levitation and Desert Daze. When Big Mountain County approached the California-based producer about remixing Where ARE YOU?, these were his words: "I really love this track! Been jamming it loud! I love the vibe of the original track and the production value. I tried to preserve some of those elements but with a different twist. I was able to sit down with this over the last few days. Really digging the results, I went with a mix of krautrock / shoegaze / chopped and screwed trip hop vibes." The result doesn't betray his words, but according to the band it goes even further: “The Californian producer Al Lover puts the music of Big Mountain County on film. He projects it on the big screen, cleverly uses photography and rewrites the plot with a very personal editing. Colors of the East, no longer intended as a lysergic space, but as a chaotic traffic of men, vehicles and animals on any given day in the Indian subcontinent (in Mumbai). In this marasmus the echo of what has been, or what could be, is there to re-propose the question that led to writing the screenplay: "Where are you?”. With the second remix, which closes out the EP, Big Mountain County are infected with a tropical disease in this remix masterfully produced by Tropicantesimo, aka UGO Sanchez, metropolitan prophet of slow rhythms and star of nights with no end, if not in hallucinated dawns front of the sea. Big Mountain County talks about it like this: “Here, more than hangover, that's "saudade" . So, the sense of lack becomes a curse - How does it feel to live so far away for me? - to be shouted, shared and cried. But outside, in some crowded city in the South of the world, it's Carnival and Summer is still there to be lived and danced, perhaps at a slower and more rhythmic pace.” An experiment, that of the remix of their songs, long in the band's wish book, finally fulfilled by Hugo Sanchez, cult Rome-based DJ and producer, recently protagonist of the recording declination of Tropicantesimo, a musical ritual dilated in time, through the celebration of sound and dance. This is a party, which over the years has become a real experience of listening, sharing and discovery out of time and space, finding home among the records and recordings of Pescheria, space-studio, but also record project, which sees Hugo Sanchez at the center of a collective of artists of various forms, musical, visual and sound installation. After having premiered two tracks by Klaus at the last Esns in Groningen (nl), Big Mountain County will return to play from April 23rd, in a tour with more than twenty gigs in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and UK. In July they will be back in Berlin for the Fusion Festival 2022.

This is Epic! Half of the original members of Kyuss: the Lord of Coolness Brant Bjork himself, and the mighty Rex Everything AKA Nick Oliveri former of Queens of The Stoneage are ready to deliver you the album of the year 2022 !!! The Dukes of the Desert are back with an incredible sophomore album: Stöner – Totally … is the perfect mix of Desert Swing, Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, and Low Punk all at once! 8 brand new tracks which will blow your mind, recorded by Yosef Sunborn who followed Brant in the last decade for his solo recordings. Mellow guitars, funky stoner rhythms, blusy atmospheres, tipical Nick’s punky sounds..the album flies away in one single listen and makes you want to play it again immediately. Cover art is Hilarious, as this band wants to be. Nothing too serious, they wanna play and have fun, that’s the recipe the Dukes are bringing us after 30 years of experience !! If the name Stöner seems a little on the nose, well… it is. Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, founding members of the stoner rock legend Kyuss, are joined again by drummer Ryan Güt (of Bjork’s solo band) and they’ve got dibs on the thick and dusty swinging grooves, returning as Stöner with their sophomore release ”totally…” Stöner’s love for their early inspirations (bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Ramones, Blue Cheer, Misfits, Black Flag, The Stooges, Mc5) result in big, groovy, sunbaked riffs that can cruise low and slow but then floor it and run all the red lights. Live, this is a band about the magnetism between the players, the groove, the loose vibe and straight up badass rock and roll… Stöner are masters of their trade. With “totally...” Stöner is in its true form, getting together and having fun. Stöner’s world is a colorful joyride, heavy of rock but not of head. The record cranks with vibes of classic hard rock, heavy blues, desert rock and psych rock jams - things that come organically to this trio. Stöner can’t help but express an abundance of punk rock rawness and passion for real rock and roll swagger. With two records, “Live at Mojave” and “Stoners Rule” (available on Heavy Psych Sounds), the latest release “totally...” sees the band realizing the chemistry of these old friends developing a statement of pure rock and roll fun. Produced, recorded and mixed by Yoseph Sanborn and Stöner. Released by Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Guest appearances on guitar by Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks) and Mario Lalli (Yawning Man). Grab a slice, crank it, and catch the band on tour in ‘22 in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.

This is Epic! Half of the original members of Kyuss: the Lord of Coolness Brant Bjork himself, and the mighty Rex Everything AKA Nick Oliveri former of Queens of The Stoneage are ready to deliver you the album of the year 2022 !!! The Dukes of the Desert are back with an incredible sophomore album: Stöner – Totally … is the perfect mix of Desert Swing, Stoner Rock, Desert Rock, and Low Punk all at once! 8 brand new tracks which will blow your mind, recorded by Yosef Sunborn who followed Brant in the last decade for his solo recordings. Mellow guitars, funky stoner rhythms, blusy atmospheres, tipical Nick’s punky sounds..the album flies away in one single listen and makes you want to play it again immediately. Cover art is Hilarious, as this band wants to be. Nothing too serious, they wanna play and have fun, that’s the recipe the Dukes are bringing us after 30 years of experience !! If the name Stöner seems a little on the nose, well… it is. Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, founding members of the stoner rock legend Kyuss, are joined again by drummer Ryan Güt (of Bjork’s solo band) and they’ve got dibs on the thick and dusty swinging grooves, returning as Stöner with their sophomore release ”totally…” Stöner’s love for their early inspirations (bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Ramones, Blue Cheer, Misfits, Black Flag, The Stooges, Mc5) result in big, groovy, sunbaked riffs that can cruise low and slow but then floor it and run all the red lights. Live, this is a band about the magnetism between the players, the groove, the loose vibe and straight up badass rock and roll… Stöner are masters of their trade. With “totally...” Stöner is in its true form, getting together and having fun. Stöner’s world is a colorful joyride, heavy of rock but not of head. The record cranks with vibes of classic hard rock, heavy blues, desert rock and psych rock jams - things that come organically to this trio. Stöner can’t help but express an abundance of punk rock rawness and passion for real rock and roll swagger. With two records, “Live at Mojave” and “Stoners Rule” (available on Heavy Psych Sounds), the latest release “totally...” sees the band realizing the chemistry of these old friends developing a statement of pure rock and roll fun. Produced, recorded and mixed by Yoseph Sanborn and Stöner. Released by Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Guest appearances on guitar by Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks) and Mario Lalli (Yawning Man). Grab a slice, crank it, and catch the band on tour in ‘22 in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.

Hal Peters and His Trio's new album "Takes on Carl Perkins" features fourteen stunning versions of Carl Perkins songs. As far as we know, no such tribute has been made to one of the greatest rockabilly songwriters and guitarists. Hal Peters and His Trio's interpretations, as well as Eino Rastas' stunning guitar playing, also caught the attention of Hal Davis and Scott Parker. These two Sun Records and Carl Perkins historians wrote the liner notes of the album.

For Susanna, nothing happens in a vacuum. Every creative act responds to what's come before. And by exploring this dialogue, we can learn new things about ourselves and the world. This idea has inspired the Norwegian artist throughout her near two[1]decade career. It's behind her unforgettable covers of classic songs and her interpretations of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch. And it found its purest expression on 2020's Baudelaire & Piano, a stripped back song cycle setting texts from the 19th century French poet's The Flowers of Evil. In Elevation, its followup, Susanna's engagement with Baudelaire's work blossoms into a collaborative enterprise, combining tape, spoken word and song. The result is a unique musical conversation spanning centuries and disciplines; a "time travelling" project, as Susanna puts it, that moves between creative dimensions. She brings collaborators back into the process, nurturing connections made over a series of Baudelaire & Piano live shows presented in 2020 and 2021. Composer[1]improviser Delphine Dora offers teasing renditions of the original French texts, layering spoken recitation and otherworldly singing in a set of atmospheric vignettes. And tape recorder soundscapes from Stina Stjern-familiar from Susanna's Hieronymous Bosch project Garden of Earthly Delights (2019)-frame the album with hiss, hum and soft fingers of melody, like mist settling on a landscape. These contributions deepen the album's mystery and its evocative power. The result is an engrossing interleaving of sounds and registers; and, as Susanna describes it, "an intuitive and collective ceremony of the ethereal and mystical in life." Elevation features work by American occultist artist Cameron (1922-1995), an adherent of Aleister Crowley's Thelema movement. Her illustrations "Witch Woman", "Pan" and "Danse" adorn the release, which will be available on cassette as well as in the usual digital, CD and vinyl formats.Oslo-based artist Susanna has released music as Susanna and the Magical Orchestra an...

Sometimes change comes with big shocks, sometimes it comes with small steps. On 'In Your Hands' Lewsberg's new album a bit of both seems to be happening. Take the second song, 'The Corner'. A remarkably discreet song; a violin plays a simple melody, a gentle drum loop keeps its finger on the pulse. "This brick is a brick to build", it sounds, though a little later: "This brick is a brick to throw". A brick offers many possibilities, for those who want to see it. One time as a part of something bigger to come, the next time just as a simple stone, left on the ground. After all, most things are relative. Sometimes one can achieve more by breaking something than by building something. If you think you can determine which of these two is needed, you'd be fooling yourself. 'In Your Hands' embodies the moment when all the bricks are there, but the wall has yet to be built. It's a moment with perspective, a moment where everything still seems possible, but caution is advised. The album sounds both smaller and more spacious than the previous albums. Guitar chords are plucked instead of fiercely struck, the bass guitar is given more room for melodic explorations, the drum kit is dismantled to just a tom and a tambourine. There is doubt in the lyrics, but it's a strong kind of doubt. A doubt that can stand in the way of a wrong decision, but can also invite for a good conversation. The old Lewsberg has been professionally demolished and the building blocks are on display. Ready for future applications and already finished at the same time. 'In Your Hands' is therefore an ode to the potential and a call to carefully give way to it. "Skewed, defiantly left-field indie rock" - Clash // "Van Vliet's idiosyncratic lyrics and buttoned-up delivery complement the bracing, no-frills performances." - Uncut // "Stripped down.. clever rock and roll of the highest quality" - Louder Than War // "You should get on board with Rotterdam's answer to Velvet Underground" - NME // "Rotterdam Talking Heads/Television enthusiasts ju...

'Doroth follow on from a 2019 self-released digi EP with this fresh 7" for Research. The duo of Loretta Wilde and Maria Moles from Melbourne have established a song writing craft that's equal parts This Heat and Throwing Muses; all disjointed rhythms and dry vocal delivery that seems to come with an intentional feeling of malaise. Where their self-titled EP allowed for the sprawling Still House Plants-esque sound of 'On The Lamb', both 'Take It Easier' and 'Picture' condense the live sound into two sub 4 minute slices of indie pop / art rock goodness. We've got no clue what photograph Wilde is singing about but the combination of bass and drums bouncing off one another underneath her prolonged strainings will be sure to stick in your brain.'

Special 3-song EP from Mono on stunning limited-edition 10” vinyl! After Covid-19 first swept the world in 2020, Mono felt compelled to make a special little gift for the Christmas holiday. The accompanying message was simple: “Wishing everyone good health, happiness, and good cheer in the new year.” Originally made at home in isolation, this digital-only release consisted of two new Mono songs: “Scarlet Holliday” and “First Winter.” Now, to commemorate the 2021 holiday season, Mono has reworked and expanded Scarlet Holliday into a very special 3-song EP (now including the brand new song, “Epilogue”). Recorded at home and at Electrical Audio by longtime collaborator, Steve Albini, newly mixed by John McEntire and mastered by Bob Weston, Scarlet Holliday is finally being released into the world on limited-edition 10” vinyl! In their unflappable determination to shine light into the darkness, Mono explains: “These songs were written with the idea of new hope for the new year since this time has become unforeseeably dark for many in the world."

The mighty Guided By Voices are set to unleash upon the world their 35th and quite possibly…best album, Crystal Nuns Cathedral. How do they do it you might ask? Well we have no idea how they do it, but we certainly do know why they do it. They do it because quite honestly we need them to do it. The world needs The Rock, and we need loud guitars, we need anthemic songs, we need a reason to raise a rock fist in the air and give a “Hell Yeah”! On Crystal Nuns Cathedral, the band delivers all of this and so much more. Just four months since It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them!, comes this latest, twelve songs determined to challenge for the title of greatest Guided by Voices album of all-time. Hyperbole you say? Not this time. The guitars are bigger, the arrangements are more ambitious, the songs are uplifting, epic, and as incredibly hook-laden as always! Pure power pop perfection like lead single “Excited Ones” mix perfectly with the slow burning “Climbing A Ramp,” which reaches its climax on a stunning guitar lead before dissolving into the fist pumping anthem “Never Mind the List,” which serves as the beating heart of the entire album. Do you still need convincing? Listen to the one-two punch of “Forced to Sea” and “Huddled” and marvel at the epic scope and vision of an incredible band on full display. This record is a statement, a challenge, a monument, a call to arms. Top this one if you can, this is the new benchmark. Who will best it? Who will try? Listen to Crystal Nuns Cathedral, and report back to us. We will be eagerly waiting.

The newest longplayer from Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal staple Cedric Noel lands with a stunning sense of surety and self. Hang Time stands as a high water mark for a songwriter who's spent the past decade quietly expanding the borders of his music. Longtime fans will recognize the fluid elements of the album's open-ended rock formations: reflective strumming, soaring choruses, searing guitar lines, subtle bass grooves; all occasionally dissolving into pools of pure ambience. New listeners will find surprises throughout: threads of folk pop, ambient and sound collage fasten the foundations of this expressive whole. However, what's most striking on Hang Time is Noel's newfound sense of voice, both literal and metaphorical. Written primarily in 2017-18 during an intense period of self-reflection, this collection of songs finds Noel wrestling profoundly with his sense of identity, self and place. Born in Niger, adopted by Canadian and Mozambican/Belgian parents, he spent his youth moving around the globe with his adoptive, multi-racial family, eventually landing in Fredericton, Canada for university. While studying, Noel embedded himself in a predominantly white indie rock community that left him feeling, as a Black man, both seen and unseen in complicated ways; both welcome and not. This tension would follow Noel through a move to Montreal in 2016 wherein he found himself again moving within predominantly white music communities. This (dis)placement would encourage Noel to find respite in Ottawa, holed up temporarily in a family home, studying the pieces of himself and putting them to place in music. Listening to Hang Time, one can feel the tensions of this process being held and released, as if being allowed to breathe for the first time: forms open and close, surfaces are seen through, feelings go supernova. The album's material was captured faithfully at The Pines, a beloved downtown Montreal studio whose doors shuttered shortly after amidst the strain of the pandemic. Noel worked closely and patiently with friend and engineer Steve Newton, ensuring the songs had the time and space needed to come fully to fruition. Hang Time features subtle rhythm work from drummer Liam O'Neill (suuns) and guest spots from Brigitte Naggar (Common Holly), Ella Williams (Squirrel Flower) and Tim Crabtree (Paper Beat Scissors) among others.

Ruby Wine Vinyl.Manchester UK's Space Afrika make music of what they term "overlapping moments" - oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow, half-heard through a bus window on a rainy night. Honest Labour, the group's first full-length since 2020's landmark hybtwibt? (have you been through what i've been through?) mixtape, expands the project's palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and visionary vocal cameos, leaning further into their enigmatic fusion of ambient unrest and cosmic downtempo. It's a sound both fogged and fragmented, at the axis of song craft and sound design, born from and for the yearning solitudes of life under lockdown.The album title is tiered, alluding to a legendary patriarch from co-founder Joshua Inyang's Nigerian family tree (who was lovingly called "Honest Labour" for his loyalty and resilience) as well as the nature of self-designated work, such as Space Afrika's music - a "labor of love" in its truest sense. With fellow co-founder Joshua Reid recently relocated to Berlin, the pair began sharing files last fall, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of "records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life." As the isolation of Covid compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed increasingly introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown.The artists cite two core motivations for Honest Labour: to transcend the sum of their influences, and "to show what we're capable of." Both ambitions are entirely realized. The collection's 19 tracks flow with a synergy and sophistication as rare as they are radical, untethered to the dusty dub-techno templates of Space Afrika's early years. These are interstitial anthems, expressionistic and open-ended, delirious but deliberate, attuned to the drift and dreamstate of the present moment: "Ultimately this is an homage to U.K. energy, and an album about love and loss."

Corvair Is What Happens When You Trap Two Scorpio Songwriters In A House Together. Comprised Of A Portland-Based Husband / Wife Duo Of Two Seasoned Musicians (Brian Naubert And Heather Larimer), Corvair's Debut Album Charts A Starcrossed Love Story Over Three Decades, Five Cities, And Six Continents. Spanning From Atmospheric Pop To Jangly Confessional, 70s Am To 90s Fm, This Work Is Laden With Stunning Turns Of Phrase And Prodigious Melodies, Two Voices Leaping To Meet In The Ether. Corvair's Debut Album Was Largely Created During The Covid Pandemic Shut-Down Of Spring 2020. It Includes Work With Drummer Eric Eagle (Jesse Sykes, Wayne Horvitz) And Engineer Martin Feveyear (Brandi Carlile, Mark Lanegan, Mudhoney), Who Also Mixed The Record. Larimer Explains, "Being Stuck In A House Together With Very Little Outside Influence Made Us More Emotionally Raw, Definitely Weirder, And Also More Patient And Intricate In Developing The Songs. And Because We Were In A Bubble, Cooking Dinners From Paranoidly-Disinfected Groceries And Listening To Old Records, Really Disparate References From Some Of Our Favorite Music Ended Up Colliding In Odd Ways--An Emotional Judas Priest Bridge, An Anthemic Pixies Outro, A Spacey Keyboard Sound From Steve Miller, Jeff Lynne's Acoustic Guitar Tone, A Carpenters-Style Lush Harmony. I Think It's A Wonderfully Weird Record, But Also Very In-Your-Face Pop Because What Else Are You Going To Do When The World Feels Like It's Ending?" Separately, Naubert And Larimer Have Created Or Appeared On More Than 20 Records. Heather's Musical Mainstay Was The Garage Pop Band Eux Autres, Broadly Hailed As A "Veritable Cult Classic" Band, Radio-Debuted By The Legendary John Peel, And Featured In Many Shows, Movies And Commercials. Brian Is A Longtime Fixture Of The Northwest Rock Community, Having Played In Vital Bands Such As Tube Top, Pop Sickle, And The Critically-Lauded Ruston Mire, Since 1993. More Recently, Brian Released His First Solo Record, Hoffabus And A Record With The Nw Supergrou...

‘4’ captures Diagonal in full creative flow and with a new twist to their sound as they incorporate elements of space rock, kosmische and post rock to bolster their well-established progressive rock roots. That adage of waiting ages for a bus and two or more come along at the same time seems applicable to their recent productivity. Returning only two years after the release of their previous LP ''Arc'', this is a notable break from tradition, having left five and seven year gaps before the previous two. And after much deliberation, the band settled on following in the footsteps of Soft Machine and Led Zeppelin in naming the album after its chronological appearance. The band returned to the studio only a year after the sessions for 'Arc'. The result is an assured work that functions wonderfully as a logical progression from 'Arc' yet at the same time has enough shift in sonics to illuminate a different facet of the band. Opening cut ‘Amon’ (a working title that ended up sticking) makes perfect sense as a reference to the German experimental rock band Amon Düül II. Its solid guitar riff foundation careens over an ever-evolving time signature, the three-part structure decreasing in intensity until it dissolves in a cloud of bubbling ambient textures. 'Chroma' explores the band’s interest in jazz. One of the two instrumental tracks on the LP, it showcases the effervescently emotive sax work of Nicholas Whittaker with an intricately crafted solo that unfurls itself over a fluid 5/4 rhythm. 'Spinning Array' is in many ways the track that acts as most of a connecting bridge to the previous album. The stridently crisp bass and drum syncopation of the opening bars giving way to long unhurried guitar lines and vocals. Vocalist/saxophonist Whittaker incorporates some intriguingly different sounds into proceedings with the use of Chinese wind instrument, the Hulusi, as well as the more traditional recorder. The keyboard presence on this album is less pronounced owing to an instrumental/personnel swap. 'Stellate' is a shining example of this shake-up and demonstrates the band at their heaviest in what emerged as a controlled jam. The woodwinds carry the Middle Eastern-tinged melody over a bed of thick guitars, as the time doubles and moves towards a maelstrom of pulsating rhythms and fearsomely lysergic guitar soloing courtesy of David Wileman. The album is expertly rounded off by the appropriately titled 'Totem'. Beginning with a repeating 5 note guitar figure, it slowly brings to the boil a bed of miscellaneous percussion and wordless vocals. The culmination is a finale of searing guitar and crashing drums, recalling the most ecstatic work of Japanese cosmic rockers Acid Mothers Temple. Diagonal’s fourth album clocks in at a punchy 37 minutes and will certainly be leaving listeners wanting more. But, who knows? Maybe those proverbial buses will be adhering to a more reliable timetable in the future.

Matrimony emerged from the scrum of yobbos making noise in late-'80s Australia (Cosmic Psychos, Lubricated Goat, etc.), a nearly all-female band of punk-pop minimalists as raw emotionally as musically. Building songs around simple, repetitive bass lines and the languidly morose vocals of one Sybilla, the band reveals its disaffection more through what it doesn't say than what it does. So while choppy guitar squalls underpin songs like 'Kitty Finger' and 'Fish and Chips Sweetheart,' elsewhere the playing is stripped nearly bare. Sybilla's love/hate relationship with her titular subject on 'Mr. Pop Star' is reduced to a series of stuttered yelps, while her dispassionate plea on 'Come Back Baby' is backed only by finger snaps and the ubiquitous heavy bass lines, distilling a lifetime of self-pitying angst into a two-minute session in front of a cracked bedroom mirror. Matrimony also pays a nominal tribute by covering the Scientists' 'Frantic Romantic' even more dourly than the original.

Today, London Born And Raised Artist Parris Announces His Much Anticipated Debut Album, Soaked In Indigo Moonlight. The Full Length Release Is Due Out On 19 November Via Can You Feel The Sun, The Label He Co-Founded With Berlin Based Producer And DJ, Call Super. Regarded In The Scene As A Slow-Burning Unique Talent, Parris' Discography Includes Releases Via The Trilogy Tapes, Wisdom Teeth, Idle Hands And Hemlock All Of Which Helped Him Carve Out His Own Distinctive Place Within The Contemporary Electronic Music Landscape. The Album Is A Sharp Piece Of Storytelling That Weaves Together Stripped-Down, Club Rooted Pop, Expansive Experiments In Rhythm And A Sense Of Air And Space That Allows Collaborations To Flourish. In A Eulogy To Friendship And Skateboarding, Eden Samara Turns Skater's World Into A Carefree Anthem. James K's Vocals Breathe A Frayed Hopefulness To Closer Falling In The Waves. Alongside These Two Rising Talents, Carmen Villian And Call Super Contribute With Symbiotic Visions That Underpin The Ideas And Spontaneity At The Heart Of The Record. It Is An Album That Is Difficult To Imagine Ever Coming From Anywhere But London Steeped, As It Is, In The Wilful Desire For Idiosyncrasy That Lies At The Heart Of The Best Of Uk Culture. As The Fog From Over A Year Of Lockdowns Lifts, This Talented Producer Is Stepping Out With His Most Impressive Body Of Work To Date And A Whole New Sense Of Direction And Purpose.

Barrie Lindsay is a soft spoken, obsessive producer and songwriter who grew up tinkering with instruments in Ipswich, Massachusetts. After graduating from Wesleyan in 2012 with a degree in music, Lindsay formed her first band with her brother, a 5-piece group called Grammar. She spent her 20's quietly making music in Boston and working at a sculpture studio until she was discovered on Soundcloud by a manager who encouraged her to move to Brooklyn and pursue a career in music by forming a band. Lindsay obliged and soon Barrie, the 5-piece band, was born. After a number of successful singles, Barrie released their debut in 2019, Happy To Be Here, earning buzzy press, TV syncs, and new fans around the globe. A month after Happy To Be Here came out, the band parted ways and Lindsay reintroduced Barrie as a solo project. In the two years since then, the 32-year old suffered the loss of a parent, and married her wife, Gabby. While Lindsay has maintained a separation between her personal feelings and lyricism inprevious works, she allowed herself to find catharsis in songamidst the intense love and grief she was experiencing. One night during a moment of grief, Lindsay couldn't bring herself to set up the mic properly in her studio. Instead, she opted to shout across the room in a true "fuck-it" moment. Liking the effect this produced, she decided to stick with it, yielding "Dig," a self-produced single featuring an impressionistic slew of slide guitar, dulcimer, and mandolin. You can hear her newfound sense of boldness, as she wails the song's central refrain, giving herself over to emotion: "I can't get enough of you / Where did you come from?" Whereas "Dig" floats in a seeming free-time, Barrie's second single, "Frankie," is locked into a driving, propulsive rhythm. Its bass synth, which remains constant throughout, is meditative and hypnotic. Among skittering arpeggios and melodic hooks, the song's message asks listeners to consider capitalism. Political pop can be awkward, but Lindsay's is subtle and poignan...

It's almost four years since their last opus - two years since the most-recent run of live shows! Now, Bitchin Bajas return from whatever kind of rare ether they occupy when they're at home, bearing the riches of the whole cosmos in their hands. And strictly OG as well - on cassette only! Switched On Ra is the outcome of a typical Bajas exercise: pouring some out for the pioneers that came before (as they've done with Bitchitronics and their participation in the annual Chicago performance of "In C" over the years). It's a nice way to get a flow - they play a little of themselves, then some for the pioneers, then a little more for the band. Before long, they're playing with the inspirations twined, as they can only come from within. For Switched On Ra, this meant a deep delve into the song-book of one of their soul-predecessors, Sun Ra, whose music is literally written in the Bajas DNA. Digging into this music sounded wild on paper: the drone synth group taking on the Arkestra harmonies and Ra's loose grooves? The trick was to get that sense of rhythm to translate across the spectrum from Ra to Bajas, in a way that worked for them both. Their rearrangements of the tunes went good - up and down the EQ band, they were finding the round sounds and jagged edges that brought Ra's music into their own thing. Then at the last minute, there was another twist - why not pay tribute to the Queen herself, and think of the arrangements with a Wendy Carlos vibe? A little side homage? After all, Switched on Bach was visionary, bringing analog synths from the outside all the way into the mainstream in the late 60s - and this take on Ra is meant to take him to new ears everywhere. Sun Ra of course was his own kind of original keyboard visionary, using electric keyboards in the late 40s and 50s to fill a role in jazz that had traditionally been played on acoustic piano only. Once he'd done so, he took his writing in directions inspired by the electricity, places no one had thought to go before then. Doing what he did on the keys was a stand for individuality that became the background radiation of his journey through the cosmos; the search for a place beyond earthly dominance, for all the people who desperately wanted the fuck OUT. Bitchin Bajas have been content to dominate in a microtonal world, usually without a single chord to be found anywhere. But here, they step up righteously, their vibe triangulated as they bring Ra's music forward with some Wendy C style, making an unexpected space for all to thrive. There's a real feeling of joy as these collected signals bounce off the tape and through the speakers into your space. To get this unique colloid exactly right, Bitchin Bajas used nineteen different keyboards. They abstained from deploying their arsenal of reed and woodwind instruments: everything had to be on the keys. This meant Yamahas, Rolands, Korgs, Casios, a MicroMoog and of course their trusty Ace Tone organ. They even broke out the Crumar Ds-2, to have some of Ra's chosen tone in the mix. Then Jayve Montgomery added an EWI as a solo voice on a few tunes, just to get some air-blown signal (and a natural shout out to EWI master Marshall Allen) in there, after all. It felt like somewhere in the universe, Ra was decreeing it. Switched On Ra is an effervescent celebration of music throughout time and space.

"A big part of the project and why I did it," says Sloppy Jane's Haley Dahl of her Saddest Factory debut Madison, "Was because it felt similar to being a little kid and buying an outfit that was too big that I'd have to grow into. I really valued from the start that making Madison gave me someone I had to become." The record, which Dahl first conceived of back in late 2017, is a grand gesture, a statement about big love, and about growing into yourself in the process. Dahl and her 21 bandmates recorded all of Madison at the Lost World Caverns in West Virginia from 3pm to 8:30am each day over the course of two weeks (they also made four music videos on location during this time). To access the space, they'd enter through the back of a gift shop, down a long tunnel where they'd walk down 200 feet of stairs to reach the entrance. Dahl and her bandmates did this steep walk with a piano. The ceiling of Lost World Caverns is massively high and is a perfect dome. The inside was also 98 percent humidity, leading to both stellar sound and also problems with tuning and gear. Engineer Ryan Howe sat in his parents Subaru above the cave with his mixing board and computer, and threaded cables down 90 feet through a hole in the ground to the ceiling of the cave. It's the first time someone has ever recorded an entire album in a cave, and the results are pretty sonically stunning. That alone is a marvelous thing. Madison is an astounding, glorious record of melodrama of the highest order.

Spirits Having Fun records are ones made from and for shows and spaces—arrangements rooted in a deeply collaborative process, that come to life through intuitive and locked-in live improvisation. Following their 2019 debut Auto-Portrait, Two finds the New York and Chicago based four-piece continuing to challenge ideas of what a rock band can be, pulling apart their musical experiences and reimagining them as kinetic compositions, equally studied but palpably organic.

Two is constructed around gut feelings and strong grooves, elastic rhythms and playful pacing. Its twelve songs expand, contract, and make sharp turns between melodies under singer-guitarist Katie McShane’s meditative lyrics. “Broken Cloud,” which was also released last year on a compilation in support of Chicago Community Jail Support, offers a glimpse into her reflections on the natural world: "A city grew out of the ground / to a mountain it's only a blur."

True to its name, the internal logic of the band is also just a lot of fun, built on trust and deep-rooted musical relationships. Before there was Spirits Having Fun, McShane, bassist Jesse Heasly, guitarist-vocalist Andrew Clinkman, and drummer Phil Sudderberg had performed together in various arrangements over the years. McShane, Heasly and Clinkman met in a specific corner of the Boston underground in 2013, a time when a scene had coalesced around students from local music conservatories frequently collaborating with punk bands and noise artists, exchanging ideas and warping musical worldviews. Heasly and Clinkman played together in Cowboy Band, making mutant, free jazz-inspired takes on old country tunes. When Clinkman moved to Chicago, Heasly and McShane played in experimental groups like EKP and Listening Woman; in Chicago, Clinkman met Sudderberg playing in projects like jazz scene fixture Ken Vandermark’s high-powered band Marker.

Spirits first came together as an attempt at a long-distance collaboration among friends in 2016, driven by the simple feeling of missing each other; they’d meet up for marathon weekends here and there to practice, playing small loops through dive bars and art spaces around the Midwest—just enough for McShane and Heasly to afford plane tickets back home. Being split between Chicago and New York forced the project into a deliberate pace. “We tried to take it slow and let it be what it was,” said McShane. That sense of patience unexpectedly prepared them for March of 2020, when their planned tours and the release of Two were indefinitely delayed.

Two was mostly recorded in the summer of 2019 with the help of omnipresent Chicago engineer Dave Vettraino and DPCD’s Alec Watson, whose contributions on organ, synths, and piano are laced throughout the record. The album reflects a synthesis of solitary and communal songwriting processes—each song drawing on fragments written by individuals, which McShane threaded together and shaped through her distinct compositional lens, making the songs whole before returning to them to the band to mature collectively. When composing, McShane writes first on the keyboard before adapting parts for guitars played by herself and Clinkman. Their dueling approaches to guitar are complementary: McShane, being a newer guitarist, brings a freshness to the project (“I'm just discovering the whole time,” she says) while Clinkman has been playing since childhood.

“There's a lot more collaboration on this record,” says Clinkman, “in terms of all of us letting stuff bloom a little bit more.” The record’s first single, “Hold The Phone” is a good example of this process—it started with a playful intro riff from Clinkman, a melody and bridge added by McShane, a wobbly outro groove added by Heasly, which Sudderberg brought to life. Another single, the dynamic “See a Sky,” written primarily by Heasly, underscores the rhythm section chemistry at play across the record, the song ebbing and flowing around Heasly and Sudderberg’s eclectic percussive palettes.

“Entropy Transfer Partners” is the only song on the record with lyrics by Clinkman, and the album’s most politically direct—a call for solidarity in the face of systemic failures, an acknowledgment of the shared material devastation caused by our country’s ongoing healthcare and housing crises: “These are not things we're experiencing individually. We struggle through them collectively. And we could actually declare, all of us, that it doesn't have to be this way, and fight and organize to ameliorate some of those conditions.” (“We won't work to create the shit you monetize, to run our lives,” they sing.)

From front to back, Two is an absorbing listen simply for its impressive range. But as the members explain themselves, the complexity of the record is about more than its intricate riffs, or how often they count out an odd time signature, but how they reject the notion of boxing the songs in, letting the melodies take on lives of their own. “Making music that feels alive is important to us,” says Clinkman. “Music feels most powerful to me when it deepens our sensation of feeling alive and connected to other humans. It’s so easy to feel worn down and isolated; that your life’s value is fixed to your productivity at your job, or the things that you have or don’t have. Making music that feels joyful and fun seems like one effective antidote to that feeling.”

"Once The Sadness Of Their 2020 Canceled American Tour Was Gone, Chain Cult Went Back To The Practice Space To Write New Songs, It Was A Perfect Way To Keep Finding Meaning In A World At A Standstill. They Are Back Stronger Than Ever With Two New Raging Post-Punk Anthems, They're Bringing Exactly What We Need In These Troubled Times. These Two Songs Give Us Elements For Reflection On Our Lives, A Good Occasion To Think About What We Miss And What We Want For The Future. " We're Not Alone " And " Always A Mess " Show The Band At Its Best. The Very Powerful Rhythm Section Allows The Guitarist To Play The Most Beautiful And Dark Melodies And The Singer To Chant The Catchy Choruses That Chain Cult Is Known For. During Uncertain Times, It Is Good To Be Surrounded By People You Trust To Continue Moving Forward; In This Spirit Chain Cult Has Kept The Same Recipe As For Their Previous Records. No One Can Say What The Future Holds And We Can't Act Like This Is Normal But Always Shall We Remember That We're Not Alone In This World"

"Oscillation associations

This album is titled Os. When I look at the shape of these two letters, O and S, I realize that they are a rotation and an oscillation.

Os is Dutch for Ox. An ox is a castrated male bull. The primary benefit of castrating bull calves is to temper their tempers, making it easier and cheaper for people to handle them. Os is also an abbreviation of oscillation, -cillation being castrated off. Oscillation means a movement back and forth in a regular rhythm, like breathing, push-ups, tides, swinging or sound. For this album Lyckle was not dealing with oxes or bulls, but with oscillations, guiding them through synths, handling their tempers. If I look at the etymology of oscillation, I learn that it stems from the term Oscilla, which were ancient disks depicting a face or animal on each side. Oscilla is a diminutive of os and means ‘little face’. They were hung in trees during religious feasts honoring various deities, as well as being thought of as purifying the air as they swung in the wind.

The wind chime with its little sunny face, smiling on the cover of this record was hanging in the windowsill of Lyckle’s studio, behind his back, where the wind would make it jingle, averting the Evil Eye according to apotropaic magic. In ancient Rome, wind chimes named Tintinnabulum were decorated with a phallus, which was also seen as a good luck charm. Phallic charm also appeared as objects of jewelry such as pendants and finger rings. It has been suggested that some types of phallic pendants were designed to point outwards in the direction of travel in order to face any potential danger or bad luck, nullifying it before it could affect the wearer.

When I take the record itself out of the sleeve, I see that there are two phalluses carved into the surface of the vinyl, like little ornaments. When you start playing the record, they start chasing each other, going round and round. They point in all directions of the room, but are never able to point at each other. Finally, I am told that it is recommended to listen to this record with the window open, allowing sounds from outside to blend in with the music. "

- Bernice Nauta

Guardian Singles hail from Auckland, New Zealand, home to (among many things) storied label Flying Nun and just about every great indie band of the last century. After seeing the band's livestream from Auckland for Gonerfest 17 in fall of 2020, Trouble In Mind is honored to welcome the band to the roster and reissue their excellent 2020 self-titled album outside of New Zealand for the first time. Formed in 2015, by Thom Burton on guitar (SoccerPractise, Moppy)and Fiona Campbell on drums (Vivian Girls, Coolies), the band hit the ground running, supporting touring bands in New Zealand like Metz, slots on the Chronophonium festival and tours in Australia. The band had recorded what would become their debut album in early 2018, simply as Campbell puts it "We just wanted good versions of the songs in our live set we were playing at the time." The addition of Yolanda Fagan on bass (Na Noise, Echo Ohs) and Durham Fenwick on lead guitar (Green Grove) solidified the current lineup in late-2018, and Auckland label Moral Support released it in a micro-edition of 150 copies in the spring of 2020. The debut album packs a wallop; driving guitar lines dance across the rhythm sections propulsive throb hearkening back to greats like Mission of Burma, The Wipers and The Sound. Opener "Tea Lights Exploding" does just that, with an instantly memorable hook and sticky guitar line written as Burton explains as "a sort of "Fuck you" to a certain kind of pervasive rape culture and culturally lobotomized idea of masculinity that I was seeing too much of ", followed by the moody "Being Alone". "Roll Undead" is next, with its persistent shuffle springing forth over a synth-siren before breaking open into an anthemic howl of a chorus. Side one closes with the crunchy stutter-step of "Never Gonna See The RainAgain". Side two doesn't let up, with aptly-titled opener "Can't Stop Moving"s ragged guitar sting hanging in the air before the band launches in with Campbell's drums skipping underneath like an arrhythmic heartbeat. Their vital cover of The Sound's "Heartbeat" (from 1980's "Jeopardy") is next, injecting a nouveau sense of modern urgency into Adrian Borland's post-punk rager. "Gold Plated Cars"s razor-wire sway comes next, with Burton & Fenwick's guitar squall waltzing over a robust bassline. Album closer "Midnight Swim" is the album's moody anthem, ratcheting up tension the old-fashioned way balancing jangle and drone with one guitar 's persistent strum and the other 's strategic punches, all while the rhythm section holds down a steady forward motion. "Guardian Singles" is a vital document of a band breaking out of the chrysalis near-fully formed; melodic, urgent and on the verge of greatness. Look for more from the band soon as they head into the studio in 2021 to record the follow-up.

When the Mountain Goats got together in March 2020, it was to make not one album, but two. The idea was to again work with Matt Ross-Spang, the dashing Memphis wunderkind. Matt pitched we spend a week at Sam Phillips Recording, his home base in Memphis, followed by another at the storied Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a plan that dovetailed nicely with John's notion of corralling these songs into two complementary batches: one light, one dark. The Memphis album_Getting Into Knives, would be brighter, bolder, marked by rich and vibrant hues; the Muscle Shoals album _ Dark in Here, is quieter, smokier, but more deeply textured and intense. We were all aware of the mythos surrounding Fame. The second you step inside you transport to its early '60s heyday and its louche mid-'70s denouement. The room we set up in is the room where Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" and where Aretha Franklin recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." The Wurlitzer with which Spooner Oldham opens the last? It's sitting right there. Spooner is living musical history, having played with everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Linda Ronstadt and Liberace, for crying out loud. And Spooner is all over Dark in Here_any time you hear a bit of Hammond organ or electric piano chiming in without repeating a phrase. We tracked the album's one outright banger, "The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower," live with Spooner, and "Mobile" and "Dark in Here" with guitarist Will McFarlane_another local veteran who played with Bonnie Raitt for years. We only had Spooner for two afternoons, though, and Will for just one. After it was just the four of us: John playing acoustic guitar and occasional piano, the rhythm section of drummer Jon Wurster and myself, and our jack-of-all-trades Matt Douglas picking up everything else. The result is something more stripped down and intimate than the lush arrangements of Getting Into Knives. Of "The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums," John concedes that the song is autobiographical. While the lines, "In a new universe / trying to find the mask that fits me" would take on a newly literal connotation in the weeks to come, the song is about going to late `80s metal shows at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, and about seeking a sense of identity and community in strange and occasionally forbidding places. This theme _ feeling at once conspicuous and invisible, the frustrated craving for acceptance _ is echoed elsewhere. Then there are elegies to lost causes, some big and institutional ("The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower"), some small and personal ("Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review," a tribute to David Berman, whose return from self-imposed musical exile had been cause for huge celebration in our camp). "Before I Got There" neglects to identify its victims, or the tragedy that's befallen them. John writes in the liner notes that "if you're looking for a governing theme here, it's calamity, as all the songs are either anticipating one or reflecting one that's already happened." - Peter Hughes, Rochester, March 2021

When the Mountain Goats got together in March 2020, it was to make not one album, but two. The idea was to again work with Matt Ross-Spang, the dashing Memphis wunderkind. Matt pitched we spend a week at Sam Phillips Recording, his home base in Memphis, followed by another at the storied Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a plan that dovetailed nicely with John's notion of corralling these songs into two complementary batches: one light, one dark. The Memphis album_Getting Into Knives, would be brighter, bolder, marked by rich and vibrant hues; the Muscle Shoals album _ Dark in Here, is quieter, smokier, but more deeply textured and intense. We were all aware of the mythos surrounding Fame. The second you step inside you transport to its early '60s heyday and its louche mid-'70s denouement. The room we set up in is the room where Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" and where Aretha Franklin recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." The Wurlitzer with which Spooner Oldham opens the last? It's sitting right there. Spooner is living musical history, having played with everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Linda Ronstadt and Liberace, for crying out loud. And Spooner is all over Dark in Here_any time you hear a bit of Hammond organ or electric piano chiming in without repeating a phrase. We tracked the album's one outright banger, "The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower," live with Spooner, and "Mobile" and "Dark in Here" with guitarist Will McFarlane_another local veteran who played with Bonnie Raitt for years. We only had Spooner for two afternoons, though, and Will for just one. After it was just the four of us: John playing acoustic guitar and occasional piano, the rhythm section of drummer Jon Wurster and myself, and our jack-of-all-trades Matt Douglas picking up everything else. The result is something more stripped down and intimate than the lush arrangements of Getting Into Knives. Of "The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums," John concedes that the song is autobiographical. While the lines, "In a new universe / trying to find the mask that fits me" would take on a newly literal connotation in the weeks to come, the song is about going to late `80s metal shows at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, and about seeking a sense of identity and community in strange and occasionally forbidding places. This theme _ feeling at once conspicuous and invisible, the frustrated craving for acceptance _ is echoed elsewhere. Then there are elegies to lost causes, some big and institutional ("The Destruction of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower"), some small and personal ("Arguing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Coney Island Baby Review," a tribute to David Berman, whose return from self-imposed musical exile had been cause for huge celebration in our camp). "Before I Got There" neglects to identify its victims, or the tragedy that's befallen them. John writes in the liner notes that "if you're looking for a governing theme here, it's calamity, as all the songs are either anticipating one or reflecting one that's already happened." - Peter Hughes, Rochester, March 2021

With their first two singles under their belts – "Generation Game", the fastest selling 7" for the award-winning label, and "Burn The Heather" – plus a raft of Ones To Watch accolades for 2021, there is much anticipation for what lies next for the band.

In early 2020, "Generation Game" announced the band as artists shaping powerful narratives around a fast-fragmenting society. With the lyric “what will the US do?” they served up a painfully prescient prediction of American unrest.

Follow-up single "Burn The Heather" made a left-hand turn for the more punk-funk, sneering at culture wars and the damaging impact of a class divide.

New single "Cain’s Heresy" shakes with the propulsion of a nimble rhythm section, full of bite and scorn, simultaneously swinging angrily at a negligent political class ("The death of four souls is less than a kick in the teeth, for them"), the threat of misinformation ("Poisonous ideals on the screen breed a vicious way of thinking, off the screen") and the noxious follow-the-leader march of celebrity culture ("They’re servants to fame"). The EP title “Silk For The Starving” in itself probes at a society that routinely neglects the needs of the have-nots.

The Lounge Society sing about what they know then. Make no mistake, this is the sound of young England: articulate, enraged and energised. And – perhaps crucially - highly danceable too. It should give hope to anyone who has lost faith in the future, because here the future is in safe hands.

Record Store Day 2021 release on photoluminescent vinyl. In 1981 Walter Verdin recorded the demos for two songs of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band before he formed the group Pas De Deux, the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1983.The artwork of this 7" is inspired by the artwork of the original record sleeves. Walter Verdin is the Belgian chameleon changing constantly between different musical styles and audiovisual art. At the end of the seventies, he released 'Storingen', a Flemish reggae single with some musical friends under the name of Specimen & The Rizikoos. In 1980 he had a number one hit in Flanders with 'Er is iets', taken from the album 'Cinema'. In the same year he started to work as a video director in the studios of the Audiovisual Services at the KULeuven. At night he experimented with video and sound. For the next 20 years, the studios became the cradle for his video art and musical experiments. In 1981, before he formed the group Pas De Deux (the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1983), he recorded the demos for two songs of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. These songs ended on the B side of their mini-LP 'Des Tailles'. On this 7" vinyl: the demo versions of 'Cold Turkey' and 'Instant Karma!'. They are recorded ping-ponging between two stereo tape recorders. All the instruments were programmed and played by Walter Verdin without the possibility of mixing or 'picking in'. Adding an instrument or a voice meant another copy from beginning to end. The roughness and the spontaneity of these recordings are remarkable, especially when you compare the tracks with the professional recordings that were made later at the famous ICP studios in Brussels with Pas De Deux, where the cheap Boss rhythm box was replaced by a Linn Drum and other instruments were added. Walter Verdin is a big fan of Lennon's music and social engagement. These demos were made only a couple of months after his passing in December 1980. The choice for the specific songs is not accidental: they are the songs with which John Lennon started a new musical adventure. Also, for Walter Verdin it was the start for a new way of music making, after a very short career as a 'Flemish singer songwriter'. The text -the message- of both songs is more topical in 2021 than it was at the beginning of the eighties, when they were recorded.

Record Store Day 2021 Release. San Francisco rock band The Flamin' Groovies moved to Britain in 1972, where they signed to United Artists. During this year they recorded “The Rockfield Recordings” with British producer Dave Edmonds at The Rockfield Studios in Wales. Now for the first time, all their 1972 recordings for United Artists will now be released on vinyl, having previously only been available on CD “A Bucket of Brains” back in 1995. The 10” includes both the original mix and a 1995 remix at original speed - of their masterpiece ‘Shake Some Action’. Limited to 6500 copies. Tracklisting Side One – 1. Shake Some Action, 2. Tallahassee Lassie, 3. Married Woman, 4. Get a Shot of Rhythm & Blues Side Two – 1. Slow Death, 2. You Tore Me Down, 3. Little Queenie, 4. Shake Some Action (95 Mixdown - Original Speed)

For the first time ever this 27 track double album collects all of their singles on Red Rhino and Beggars Banquet/Situation Two. A mandatory compilation that also includes the bonus 7 inch originally appeared on the first ltd version of the 1986 album ‘Paint Your Wagon’ (Paint Your Wagon/More Jipp), an alternative and harder rendition of ‘Beating My Head’ (originally appeared o the Ep ‘This Today’) and ‘Russia’ from the 1984 Ep ‘Hollow Eyes’. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were one of the most successful independent bands of the 80’s with their dark and often manic rhythms.

Ready for take-off: Brazilian psychedelic quartet Os Barbapapas will release their first record DooWooDooWoo on 30rd April. Berlin-based record label Fun In The Church celebrates an LP release perfectly in line with their motto “Outernational Music For Interplanetary People”: DooWooDooWoo by Os Barbapapas will be the international debut of a highly talented band straight from the hip psychedelic scene in São. São Paulo meets Berlin – contemporary interplanetary diplomacy at its best. The result is a wondrous trip propelling us into outer space, to a lyrically unmanned space station where instrumental needles pierce the membrane of our planetary horizon, making way for a holistic psychedelic experience of our world.
Our tour guides are Barbara Mucciollo (Drums, Percussion), Selva
Rubens (Electric Guitar), Fernando Lima (Percussion, Drums) and Tomás Oliveira (Glass Harp, Bass), who is also responsible for production and mix. In times like these, producing a record like DooWooDooWoo is not a trivial thing at all, especially in Brazil, where Covid struck hard. The four artists had to improvise: since the initial plan to record an album in a studio was made impossible, the already drafted songs where postponed in favor of a new concept. Everyone recorded ideas for themselves, to which the others would contribute their tracks later, eventually building the 13 track-long interstellar journey that is the album. Collective improvisation chronologically untangled.
Though DooWooDooWoo was created in physical distance, the LP still became a 25-minute-long monument to the extraordinary vibe of the band. Its unpretentious and playful sound can only originate from the natural bond of those who speak the same musical language. And while listening to the first bars of the album and asking oneself if this could also be The Residents or Hermeto Pascoal producing Khruangbin’s next record, one has already been befallen by the spell of the four Brazilian mages. At the very latest, the third song “Sanga” will draw in even the most reluctant sceptic, when Selva Rubens sounds his self-made pot guitar. Welcome to the desert jungle.
Here, Tropicália meets exotica. Space meets desert. Surf meets western. The evoked visions maintain their wonder throughout the whole album, supported by the varied rhythms of the two drummers Mucciollo and Lima, who alternate skillfully between funky grooves, electronic sounds and classic percussion patterns, awarding the album a continuous flow. Brought together with Oliveira’s science-fiction sounds produced by his Glass Harp and the absence of vocals, they unfold a hypnotizing force that seems to slow down time. This unique sound is glued together by Selva Rubens’ guitar, always present with twangy melodies and reverberating harmonies. That way, Os Barbapapas weave us a sound that could only have been created in the cultural melting pot that is São Paulo. All the more exciting that Fun In The Church will deliver us that sound on vinyl.
The recording process has been a lifeline to the four Brazilians in Covid-induced isolation. Tomás Oliveira writes: “It’s been a great source of good mental health and daydreams”. This feeling perforates the music. And sounds truly outernational!

The band that became Nightshift formed in 2019 in the ecosystem of Glasgow's current indie scene. The city's fertile & creative group of musicians have been committed to pushing the boundaries of and blurring the lines between DIY, punk, experimentalism and indie pop for decades now; a home to bands like Shopping, Vital Idles, Current Affairs, Still House Plants, and Happy Meals as well as forebears like Orange Juice, Teenage Fanclub and Yummy Fur. Nightshift slot right in with all mentioned, featuring members from current indie stalwarts Spinning Coin, 2 Ply and Robert Sotelo. Initially formed by guitarist David Campbell and bassist Andrew Doig as a "No Wave/No New York/ early Sonic Youth/This Heat-esque" group, the addition of Eothen Stern (keyboards/vocals) and Chris White (drums) instantaneously transformed their approach (guitarist/vocalist/clarinetist Georgia Harris joined as the band was writing "Zöe"). The band self-released a full-length tape on Cusp Recordings in early 2020, laying the foundation of their sound; hypnotic, melodic, understated indie post-punk with hooks that stick around long after you've heard them. "Zöe" is the band's newest effort, and first for Trouble In Mind. Unlike the band's previous album, the songs on "Zöe" weren't conceived live in the band's practice space, but rather pieced together and recorded remotely during quarantine lockdown, with each member composing or improvising their parts in homes/home studios, layering ideas over loops someone made and passing it on. The isolation actually allowed for an openness and creativity to flow and many of the songs took on radically different forms from when they were originally envisioned. Vocalist & primary lyricist Eothen Stern says "The process of writing these songs separately during lockdown was a kind of exquisite corpse - I liked this gesticulation of reaching out to one another and responding. Building up the next layer and passing it on." Stern says "poetic restraints" to writing & Eno's Oblique Strategies concepts were on their mind when composing the words to the songs on "Zöe" and lists the influence of author Rosi Bradiotti's book "The Posthuman". "Zöe" means "live drive", derived from the word conatus. Bradiotti defines conatus as "an effort or striving, endeavour, impulse, inclination, tendency, undertaking, serving is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself." and Stern views it as "...a kind of feminist re-claiming of communal public, anti- privatisation, looking to strive for social and environmental justice. Zöe kind of became a character of striving for me when writing.". "Zöe" kicks off with "Piece Together", a hypnotic song anchored by the band's chanted vocals and serpentine guitar licks. "Spraypaint the Bridge" showcases Harris' clarinet in an unexpected & delightful melodic shift during the song's anti-chorus. Elsewhere tunes like the swooning "Infinity Winner" and "Outta Space"s minimalist, slinky rhythm swirl in a late-night vibe, while "Make Kin" ruminates on "Looking to kinship as a way of engaging with entangled environmental and reproductive issues... how a band is a bond" and lurches forward with kinetic guitar strangling and staccato rhythmic percussion from White and Doig. "Power Cut" is the album's centerpiece, kicking off side two and lures the listener into its world over it's 7-minute runtime. Lulling them into involuntary movement with its waves of melodic harmonies, synth drones and metronomic pulse, until they all come crashing down in the song's dissonant midsection. The band acknowledges the whiffs of nostalgia prevalent in "Zöe"s songs (the title track in particular), and the nature of writing and recording the album is soaked in the self-work, reflection and reevaluations involved not only personally but creatively in each member's lives. Consequently, the album becomes a collection of sketches of hope, growth, awareness of the power of the world and the power of self, kith, kinship, friendship, resistance, and possibility.

Terry Gross is an engrossing trio composed of guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am), bassist Donny Newenhouse, and drummer Phil Becker. The trio are also connected as owners and engineers at Bay Area recording spot El Studio, where they began improvising together as a way to test the boundaries and gear of the studio. Their loose, organic chemistry burgeoned into a deep camaraderie and a sound both expansive and exacting. The three experienced musicians crafted their first fulllength album through the pure joy of playing together with no expectations. With the tapes rolling on their rehearsals, the band captures the exuberance of live performance and elevates those recordings through a deft use of the studio as their collective instrument. On their debut LP Soft Opening, Terry Gross channels their cosmic powers and considerable chops into a gleefully mesmerizing odyssey fit for an arena. Soft Opening took shape over the course of 2016-2019, with Terry Gross writing and refining their songs. "Space Voyage Mission" and "Worm Gear" parallel one another as sinuous jams that pulse with adamantine fervor. Each mountainous epic churns spellbinding repetition and simplicity into dizzying gallops that take hairpin turns into sinewy riffing and elysian vocal melodies. Phil Manley's guitar takes on a constellation of tones across "Space Voyage Mission" with drifting delays soaring over the Newenhouse and Becker's driving rhythm section which all succumb to frothing overdrives that spin the song into entirely new pastures. The hypnotic throb of "Worm Gear" grows all the more enchanting as Newenhouse and Becker add subtle shifts to the single-chord barrage. "Specificity (Or What Have You)" contrasts these two in its more traditionally pop-oriented structure while retaining its predecessors wide-eyed energy and delves further into the album's lightheartedyet-earnest take on sci-fi tropes from space and time travel to the singularity. As Terry Gross, Phil Manley, Donny Newenhouse, and Phil Becker are sonic scientists traversing the borderlands of rock. Soft Opening captures the simple joy of a no-holds-barred trio in stunning detail, transporting the listener into the splendor and freedom of rock.

The Storm Sessions is the latest glowing proof that Elkhorn are one of the most durable and adventurous platforms of the new guitar age. Snowed in with their friend Turner Williams (Ramble Tamble, Guardian Alien) on the night of an emotionally important gig, the duo-plus-one turned it into a cathartic blizzard-bound collaboration and rumination -- and a new step for Elkhorn. A powerful turn outside the duo's comfort zone, The Storm Sessions consists of two side-long improvisations by guitarists Jesse Sheppard (12-string acoustic) and Drew Gardner (6-string electric) along with Turner's rare and lovely vibrations (electric bouzouki on one side, shahi baaja on the flip). No strangers to improvisation or collaboration, The Storm Sessions is their most spontaneous studio work yet, and perhaps their most beautifully flowing. Formed by old friends Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner in 2013 and naming themselves 'Elkhorn' the following year, it's the pair's telepathic bond that has made them so much more than two dudes with guitars. With Sheppard's rigorous 12-string acting like a meditative rhythm section for Gardner's textured flights, the duo's third voice emerges into a space that often borders on soulful cosmic jazz. Committed collaborators and community organizers in their vibrational corner of the world, both members of the band are deep students of the music. In 2018, Sheppard organized The 1000 Incarnations of the Rose, an already historic three-day festival in Takoma Park, Maryland--John Fahey's hometown--that showcased generations of wide-eared guitarists. Ambassadors to an often-hidden creative lineage as well as an often-hidden network of modern players, Elkhorn have hewn to the most sage advice Timothy Leary ever proclaimed: Find the others. Mark Fosson (who played the 1000 Incarnations of the Rose) was one such Other, forming a cross-generational bond with Sheppard. Scheduled to play a New York show with Elkhorn in late 2018, the 68-year-old Fosson fell ill and passed away. A rescheduled performance featuring Williams (another Other) turned into the extended session in Gardner's home studio in Harlem. The Storm Sessions is filled with flickering textures that might create warmth on a cold day, or a bubble of human atmosphere inside a dreary dystopian vacuum, no matter the weather outside. Their sixth full-length in five years, Elkhorn are both well into their journey and have only just begun.

This fifth record, On/Off, Bachar wanted to record it in his native Lebanon. More precisely in the main room of his family house, a stone house standing alone in the mountains north of Beirut. In this big room there is all that’s needed: a piano, a chimney, the stove and some rare instruments who have been sleeping there for years, serving as decorations. For two whole weeks, Bachar welcomes, shapes and celebrates the urgency of creation. The recording takes place in decembre 2019, it’s rhythm follows that of the popular uprising which is shaking Lebanon since october.

Mint Field creates a unique blend of avant pop that explores the nostalgia and melancholy of daily life with complex rhythms, loud, shimmering guitars, and softly sighing vocals. Emerging from the two most exciting destinations for art and music in Mexico, the band originally formed in Tijuana before relocating to Mexico City where they are now based.